Nipple and comforter for infants.



H. H. YOUNKER.

NIPPLE AND COMFORTERTOR INFANTS.

APPLI CATION FILED SEPT. 27, I915.

Patented Dec. 5; I916.

WITNESSES. IN l/E N TOR A TTOR/VE Y HARRY I-I. YOUNKER,

FGE.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

NIPPLE AND GOMIEORTER FOR INFANTS.

Application filed September 27, 1915.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY H. YOUNKER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nipples and Comforters for Infants, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to a class of devices adapted to be used by infants.

My invention has for its object primarily to provide an article of manufacture designed to be made so as to be employed as a nipple for feeding an infant from a bottle as well as being adapted to be made for use as a pacifier for the infant, and which is of a form serving to cause the mouth of the infant to be developed with its growth into attractive shapeliness, instead of tending to distort the shape of the infants mouth as is incident to the forms of this class of articles ordinarily in use.

The invention consists essentially of a resilient mouth-piece adapted to be disposed in an infants mouth, and this mouth-piece is provided with a head which may be in the form of a cap for being removably applied on the mouth of a bottle, or the head may be otherwise formed. In opposite parts of the mouth-piece are two spaced recesses in opposed relation, one of which conforms in shape to the upper lip of an infants mouth, while the other recess is of a shape conforming to the lower lip of the mouth, and when the mouth-piece is formed with a cap, a duct, or passage is provided therethrough between the recesses. Another object of the invention is to also provide in opposite parts of the mouth-piece two other spaced recesses, one conforming to the shape of the upper gums of the infant While the other recess conforms to the shape of the lower gums; and a further object of the invention is to provide a nipple and comforter of a simple and eflicient form which is susceptible of being made to sell at a very moderate price.

With these and other objects in view, the invention will be hereinafter more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and will then be pointed out in the claims and the description.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a fragmentary Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 191?.

Serial No. 52,871.

view showing a top plan of the nipple and comforter when used on a nursing bottle.

Fig. 2 is an inverted plan of the device. Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1, and Fig. 1 is a top plan of the device when used as a comforter.

The nipple and comforter has a mouthpiece 10 which may be made of rubber, or other resilient material, and this mouthpiece may be substantially elliptic, or any other suitable shape as well as being formed with comparatively flat upper and lower surfaces, as 10 and 10 so as to be adapted to be disposed in the mouth of an infant. The resilient mouth-piece 10 has an integral head 11 also preferably made of rubber, and this head may bein the form of aeap to adapt it to be removably applied over the mouth of a nursing bottle, as 12, when the device is used as a nipple for feeding infants, and midway through the nipple is a duct, or passage 13 which communicates with the interior of the cap. When the device is made for use as a comforter the duct 13 may be dispensed with so that the infant will not take air into its mouth, and the head 11 may be made solid, or closed by a suitable stopper, as 1 1, provided with a ring, as 15, if desired, as shown in Fig. 1.

Transversely disposed in the top surface 10 of the mouth-piece 10 and adjacent to the head 11 is a curved recess 16 of a shape to conform with the upper lip of an infants mouth, and extending from the head toward and slightly inward of this recess is a projecting ridge 17. The parts of therecess 16 contiguous to this ridge are countersunken, at 18 and 19, and this ridge tapers outwardly from these counter-sunken parts of the recess so that the ridge will be seated in the usual indentation in the upper lip of the infant under its nose when the device is in use. In the other surface 10 of the mouth-piece, and opposed to the recess 16 is another transversely disposed recess 20 which is curved to conform with the lower lip of the infants mouth. Also in the top surface 10 of the mouth-piece 10 in proximity to the recess 16 is a transversely disposed third recess 21 which is of an arc-shape to conform with the shape of the upper gums of the infants mouth, and in the opposite surface 10" of the mouth-piece is a fourth transversely disposed recess 22 also of the shape of an arc to conform with the lower gums of the mouth of the infant. The recesses 16, 20,

21, 22 are preferably concaved, as viewed transversely though these recesses may be of any other suitable formations, in order to properly accommodate the gums as well as the lips of the infant.

When the device is employed as a nipple, or as a comforter the mouth-piece 10 is disposed in the mouth of the infant so that the upper lip and the upper gum will be disposed in the recesses 16 and 21 while the low-er lip and lower gum will be seated in the recesses 20 and 22, and so that the ridge 17 will be disposed in the usual indentation of the upper lip under the nose of the infant. The mouth-piece will then be held in the infants mouth by being clamped between the gums, the parts of the recesses 21 and 22 serving as resilient buffers to aid the teething process of the infant, and during the usual suctional movements of the mouth of the infant the parts of the recesses 16 and 20 will tend to cause the lips to be developed during their growth into an attractive shapeliness, instead of producing abnormal formations of the mouth and the lip as is incident in many instances to the use of the ordinary forms of nipples and comforters.

In the foregoing description, I have embodied the preferred form of my invention, but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, as I am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing from the principle, or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, therefore I reserve to myself the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the scope thereof.

Having thus described my, invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters 7 Patent 1. In a nipple and comforter, a substantially elliptic fiat resilient mouthpiece adapted to be disposed in the mouth of an infant, and the mouthpiece being provided with two recesses one in each of its fiat surfaces for reception of the lips of the infant, one of said recesses being formed to conform with the shape of the lower lip of the infant and the other being formed to conform with the upper lip of the infant whereby the lips of the infant will be symmetrically formed.

2. In a nipple and comforter for infants, a resilient mouthpiece with a cup-shaped head having a duct therethrough and lead ing through the mouthpiece, the said mouthpiece being adapted to be disposed in the mouth of an infant, and the mouthpiece being provided with two recesses in opposite parts thereof for reception of the upper and lower lips of the infant, and said recesses being shaped to conform to the lips of the infant, and a ridge projecting from the head for engaging the indentation between the upper lip and the nose of the infant whereby the lips of the infant will be developed into symmetrical form by the use of the nipple and comforter.

3. In a nipple and comforter, a resilient mouthpiece with a cup-shaped head, the mouthpiece being adapted to be disposed in the mouth of an infant, and the mouthpiece being provided with two curved recesses in opposite parts thereof of a' shape to conform with the shape of the upper and the lower lips of an infant, the mouthpiece having two additional curved recesses, for receiving the upper and lower gums of the infant, and having a ridge adjacent the recess for the upper lip so as to engage the indentation between the nose and the upper lip of the infant and the mouthpiece having a duct therethrough,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this twenty fifth day of September A. D. 1915.

HARRY H. YOUNKER.

Vitnesses:

Ron'r. B. ABBOTT, M. DERMODY.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

